Leading yourself is an art. Most people when they think about leadership think about motivating others. Getting people to do more than they thought possible. While this is a good end goal for leadership it’s not usually where the problem lies. Most leaders who fail don’t fail because they can’t motivate others. Most leaders fail because they can’t lead themselves. In fact it’s gotten so bad that many students hate leadership because they have seen and experienced the mess that many leaders make when they fail.
Leaders fail to understand the importance of humility and leading by serving. They reenforce the idea that leaders tell people what to do without sharing WHY doing something will benefit others. Leaders tend to be task focused and forget to value people. These issues come from overvaluing our leadership and our importance.
People who lead themselves well understand what they are good at and what they are not good at. They then look to hand-off leadership to people who have stronger gifts in areas they don’t. This allows them to not only lead effectively but to also motivate and inspire others.
Remember when leading yourself:
1. Everyone can lead … you’re not the only one
2. God has gifted all his children to serve
3. Empowering others grows your leadership
4. Your influence is determined by your leadership
5. By growing your leadership you will be growing your influence
